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So thrilled to find my name among the nominees!! not once, but 3 times! Americana Album, Rise from the StormAmericana Song, PenniesGospel Song, Walking on Sacred GroundWOW! Such an honor to be listed with so many talented peopleCongratulations to ALL the nomineesThank you to Brian, obviously a huge task .. that's a lot of music! Excited to be included .. Hoping I can make to LA for the award ceremony! I am a singer/songwriter from Warwick, RI, USA. I submitted 2 albums for consideration ...One was nominated in the album category (rise from the storm) and the other was produced by JPF mentor, the very talented Mike Dunbar, in Nashville, TN,.. Walking on Sacred Ground is from that album is nominated for Gospel songYAY JPF!!

Congratulations to all nominees. I didn't think I had a solid enough rcording so I didn't even consider entering. It's nice to be considered, I would imagine. Will there be a nominee or finalist cd or streaming site to hear all the noms?

All of you exemplify the diversity of music we got this year. I also believe at least one or two of you missed an album nomination. Might want to check that.

As for quality, I recall one year a gal won an award for a song literally recorded in her college dorn bathroom with a keyboard and the natural reverb. Still love that song. We don't "judge" music the way others do. Our only criteria is "Does the music move you?" That's why it isn't really a competition between anyone in a way, it's simply music that has moved the collective judges the most, regardless of how it was recorded, who is or isn't singing etc. Sure, it always helps to put your best foot forward, but I know of poor records with lots of passion or humor that still made the grade. I can only imagine that people listening for the love of music and no other agenda (and I can assure you most of the nominees were strangers to those listening) or special interest getting in the way.

240K songs... 17,400 albums. That's a lot of music so you guys and gals rose to the top by moving folks a lot or even a little more than others did.

So happy and honored to be here! My music is Celtic Folk - but that often comes with a twist! I love writing story songs, even when they don't have lyrics. I also love to sit in and add my penny whistles when my friends give me a nod, whether it is guitar, hurdy gurdy or saxophone! I find I can play along with most instruments... Where is the info on the awards get together? I want to be sure it is on my calendar! Thanks everyone!

Wow! Thanks Brian and all the other judges for nominating my band Nervous Germans in both the Rock Album and Rock Song categories. We feel honored and wish all the other bands and artists as much success as we wish for ourselves. We have an EP for imminent release too so if you'd like to keep yourself informed here's a couple of links: http://www.nervousgermans.de and https://www.facebook.com/NervousGermansOfficial/See you around!

I am speechless. For a nominee for best albums in spoken word and storytelling it is a serious condition (Warning from the Caveman and the Poet & Twinkleberry the Belly Dancing Chicken). I am t.he "coward" of a previous post who lacked confidence in my writing abilities. Someone else sent my first stories to a toy company. That led to a recording of the stories which became a demo I took to Brent Lewis, a percussionist, music writer, performer, and producer. The synergism and collaboration between us has culminated into four CDs of topics ranging from serious and provoking to funnybone poking. The JPF nominations for stories and albums in an international forum is the stuff of dreams. Thanks to all who labor with love for the universal language.

I wrote and performed all the stories on the Warning CD and wrote all the stories on the Twinkleberry CD except for Monkey Hip Gumbo (Brent's writng). Brent performed all stories on that CD as well. He lives to perform live and will be contacing you about a chance to perform at the awardsshow. We both plan to be there.

I think there's a check in on the Music Awards Board, but it's slow. Most are contacting us via Facebook but we're going to keep working on getting them to stop in here. We've heard from about 230 of the on Facebook, only a few have made their way here year.

I am (of course) very pleased to have a song in the list of nominations. How nice it is to get a bit of attention to our efforts in the incredible flood of music (via the internet) these days - as has often been discussed on these boards.

Midnite requested in a thread elsewhere that people provide a link(s) to their nominated songs... I think this would be a good place - wish that mac would list his here - I'd like to listen to those again (without having to dig...and the world should hear his stuff!) - and others, as well...(some have).

Good one Floyd! One thing I noticed on YouTube that cdbaby seems to be doing, is if you have an album on cdbaby, a generic video with the album art work and the song is made into a video, strictly for listening purposes. I guess they feel it expands the reach of the music to have a quasi video on YouTube.

As with the other nominees, I am so happy to be a 2017 nominee for my Storytelling Album "Jack and the Levitator & Other Stories". It is a collection of personal, true stories. I am really excited to hear the others listed. Thank you for providing this opportunity to so many of us, Brian!

We have the proof there is much talent out there, and glamour is not needed to produce uplifting, titillating, provoking music.I am so glad that Music Mosaic is a label featuring those talents... and I get to chose them, lol.... here is some of the cream in our compilations!!

Floyd, I remember seeing your song keep clearing hurdles round by round and I didn't even realize it made it all the way to nominations. I mostly dealt with the ties in the final round so I would guess you weren't in any danger of not getting nominated and I like that song of yours. I am especially happy to see so many board members with songs and albums making the cut, something that hasn't happened in past years nearly as often, even though this years music is as good as any previous year. Good for you and your peers.

Robin, you're the first storyteller to check in, so welcome to JPF and I hope people will check that genre out, you'll be pleasantly surprised, no matter what kind of music you like, we have Children's and Adults storytelling with some brilliant entries in both. There's also much to like in the Spoken Word genre in case anyone wants to stretch out their usual listening habits. It can require a little more time (some are short pieces, some much longer) but if you're doing some work on line, put some on and enjoy a lot of interesting viewpoints and stories often based on real people and real lives.

Hello everyone! I am checking in for Celtic/Medieval band Broceliande (of which I am the leader) and Celtic rock band Avalon Rising (of which I am a proud member). We are absolutely delighted that our CDs "Make We Merry" and "Elbows & Antlers" were nominated this year, as well as a song each from each CD! Both bands have been around for over 18 years. Avalon Rising plays the Celtic Festival/Scottish Games circuit, and Broceliande brings its unique twist on Celtic and Early Music to concert series & house concerts around the Bay Area. Thanks again! Can't wait for the awards!

Wow, you're in both bands. I had no idea. Congrats! So you kinda have bragging rights in both eh? Please tell your band mates congrats for us and now the question is, which one do you want to win? hahahah. Don't answer, though I am sure that would be like picking between kids!

I have just been informed that I am nominated in the two categories:Vocal Jazz song: The lady was to blameCabaret song: Bittersweet

Both of the songs are from the album Fishing For Zebras, which are nominated in 5 categories in total.

This is absolutely fantastic news. Thank you all so much.

I still carry the adventure from 2009 in my heart and soul from when I attended the Just Plain Folks music awardshow in Nashville, and came home to Denmark having won the award for Best RnB album of the year (Jazz Handle)The following months here was absolutely amazing, and although Denmark is a very very tiny country compared to yours, the recognision and attention the award provoked was an experience I shall never forget.

In the autumn of 2012 I was invited to collaborate with a very skilled producer from Germany Martin Kratzenstein and his project Club Des Belugas which I did 3 tracks with all done by sharing ideas and workfiles over email. Two of the songs are now nominated in this years Just Plain Folks music awards.

That's so great to hear. I am getting a lot of similar feedback from other previous nominees with similar experiences and in the end, this is why I do the work. Sincere, no strings attached recognition is a rare thing in the arts, and I am very happy to have contributed to nudging deserving talented people of all genres and types forward to the of our ability .

I had no idea you were even involved in that group until after the noms were done, but I am not surprised, it's a wonderful and diverse album!

Good one Floyd! One thing I noticed on YouTube that cdbaby seems to be doing, is if you have an album on cdbaby, a generic video with the album art work and the song is made into a video, strictly for listening purposes. I guess they feel it expands the reach of the music to have a quasi video on YouTube.

I don't know for sure, but it seems anytime I see a video like that, the artist has an abum or single on cdbaby. i thought cdbaby had a YouTube program in their books too. Might be something all the distributors do.

I have actually seen some videos where zero people had viewed it

Paul Simon had released demos of his Graceland album, the original demos for the public to hear/buy. He had one of those videos just uploaded to youtube, I was the first person to view it. IM not sure who does it, but it seems to be the same company with same goal.

Roughly 70% of the songs are on Spotify. I have them all in genre playlists. The only genre with every song on spotify is Instrumental oddly enough. All others are missing at least one or two. Some barely have any songs, Country is missing a bunch. I have been working my way through the playlists, really nice to hear them as a collection instead of one at a time. If you are on spotify, send me a note if you'd like to check them out. But please do not share them until we make an official public announcement.

All four of my CDs done with Brent Lewis are on his site with all lyrics (my writings) posted for each CD. He has done many CDs of percussion music on his melodic Ikauma drums. His music is world renowned and used in movies, by professional dancers and dance troupes, schools, and as therapy. They are audio amphetamines and will perk up any mundane chore or workplace as well as heating up your personal workout routines.

Congrats Perry and Jayme! Which show did you do, the voodoo lounge or the one in Oakland or one of our chapter meetings? We started out technically in 1985, but we did start touring No. Cal in the 90's.

My apologies for checking in late. I'm honored to have two of my songs nominated "Somehow We Survived It All" from "Troubadour Songs" for "best rock ballad", and "C'mon Big Brother" from "Live at the Blue Note" for "best political/social commentary." I was shocked to say the least! www.bobcushing.comwww.reverbnation.com/bobcushing, and yes I'm on Spotify as well as Pandora, I-Heart radio ect. Thanks again!

My 2nd album 'Folies de Flandre' received a JPF nomination in the category Contemporary Classical. This is great news - thanks a lot!

Folies de Flandre is a triptych for cello: my friends Robrecht Kessels and Armand Coeck and I composed each 3 pieces for the album. I gathered some excellent musicians and we recorded this album back in 2012 already. Besides cello are also featured: classical guitars and piano.In 2009 my first album Nightbird also received some JPF nominations - it's a good feeling to get again some recognition :-)